Craniofacial periosteum-derived cells as source for bone tissue engineering

The development of alternatives for autologous bone grafts is a major focus of bone tissue engineering. To produce living implants, the use of skeletal stem and progenitor cells (SSPCs) are envisioned as key ingredients. SSPCs can be obtained from bone marrow, adipogenic tissue, dental pulp and periosteum. Human periosteum-derived cells (hPDCs) exhibit a number of progenitor characteristics and have well-documented in vivo bone formation capacity. Here, we have characterized and compared hPDCs derived from tibia with new sources of hPDCs, i.e. from maxilla and mandible (craniofacial hPDCs, as a potential source for tissue engineered implants for craniofacial applications. Overall design: 18 RNA samples were sequenced in with technical duplicates (A and B). Periosteal samples were obtained from the posterior areas of the maxilla and mandible of 16 to 30-year old healthy patients who underwent bimaxillary orthognathic surgery, after informed consent was obtained (Belgian registration number B322201731127). The tibial samples were harvested by orthopedic surgeons as described previously (Eyckmans and Luyten, 2006). RNA-seq samples were obtained from maxillary, mandibular and tibial samples obtained from donors.